GROUP SAYS ISSA BROKE LAW, SEEKS INVESTIGATION

A Washington, D.C., advocacy group has asked for two investigations into whether Vista Congressman Darrell Issa broke the law with a release of information, a request Issa considers a partisan attack.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed complaints last week with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Congressional Ethics.

In a July 11 letter, CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan told Attorney General Eric Holder that Issa appears to have wrongly released information into the public record that was gleaned from a sealed wiretap application.

During debate last month over whether Holder should be held in contempt of Congress, Issa placed a letter into the Congressional Record that included details of a 2010 wiretap application filed by federal agents with the U.S. Department of Justice. The supporting affidavit — sealed by a judge — spells out how hundreds of guns were illegally transported into Mexico, according to the complaint.

“The public record makes clear that Rep. Issa unlawfully disclosed the contents of a sealed wiretap application,” Sloan wrote.

A spokesman for Issa called the complaint meritless and said CREW was retaliating against the congressman for exposing “reckless conduct and mismanagement” by the Obama administration.

“While CREW’s liberal leanings and dependence on anonymous donors have long been known, this latest action further exposes the naked partisan nature of an organization run by Democratic operatives,” Issa spokesman Frederick Hill said.

Sloan acknowledges in her letters that Issa may be protected by a clause in the U.S. Constitution that allows him to place such material into the Congressional Record. There is no specific shield from prosecution for Issa for having discussed the material with reporters, she said.